A century of poverty

Chapter 88 Life is Hard

The day after the wedding, I got up early, served breakfast to the family, tidied up the stove and the area around it, swept the floor clean, and went into my mother-in-law's room to see what chores were needed.

As soon as I entered the room and stood in front of my mother-in-law's mattress, she instructed me, "Bring the paper quilt and sew it."

I don't understand: What is a paper quilt?

A short while later, Zhiqiang brought in a pile of kraft paper from outside and placed it on the floor of the outer room; there were large and small pieces of it.

The so-called paper quilts were made by connecting four layers of kraft paper together with bamboo sticks sewn to both ends, and were used to cover greenhouses. Two were placed side by side, each about a dozen lengths long, and then sewn together to form one.

Sew up the torn half and take it out.

To make a new one, sew two four-layered kraft paper sheets together, overlapping them, and then pierce through all eight layers of kraft paper with a single stitch.

Zhiqiang demonstrated by using the stub of an awl to pick up the rope that had been removed from the cement bag, struggling to pierce it in and pull it out.

When I looked at it, I realized that I couldn't sew this with just my fingers; I wouldn't be able to pierce it. I would need a thimble. I said, "You need a thimble, but I don't have one."

The old woman on the kang (heated brick bed) said, "I'll find you a thimble."

I went inside, and the old woman found a tobacco box next to her mattress. She took out a thimble and an awl and handed them to me. I took them and tried to put the thimble on my middle finger. It was narrow and thin, and I couldn't get it on properly. "This is too small. It doesn't fit me," I told the old woman.

"There's nowhere else, just this one. Make do with it," the old woman replied.

I went back to the outer room and squatted down to sew.

This was a very difficult task. Two gray bags were unfolded, laid flat, and stacked together. There were eight layers of kraft paper, some of which still had ash stains on them. Even with great force, it was impossible to stab them in.

Zhiqiang handed over an old soap dish containing a small bar of soap. "Put it in here, it'll make it easier to prick."

I tried poking the soap with the awl stub, and it was easier to prick, but inserting and removing the needle was still very difficult. I tried using a thimble, but the thimble was small and couldn't be inserted properly; it was also broken, with holes and scratches. As I tried, it slipped onto my finger. My middle finger was pricked by the eye of the needle, leaving cuts that bled. I pressed it with toilet paper for a while and endured the pain while stitching it up.

In the dead of winter, with drafts coming in through the front and back doors, squatting on the ground outside, my legs would go numb after a while. I had to alternate supporting my weight with each leg, and my injured hands were so frozen stiff that they wouldn't obey my commands.

Seeing that I had gotten the hang of it, Zhiqiang went to unpack the gray bag. My heart ached: "A daughter-in-law from heaven is not as good as a daughter from hell." This sentence that my grandmother often said lingered in my mind.

"Let's roll up the straw mat," he said. "Come on! Follow me to roll up the straw mat." When we reached the west end, he climbed onto the roof of the shed and told me, "You go up in front, stay down here."

I moved aside the clods of earth covering the tarpaulin and straightened the ropes used to roll it up. He then used both hands to roll up the tarpaulin, while I went to the greenhouse to roll up the paper blankets.

The tarpaulin was rolled up, and the father-in-law went into the greenhouse to check on the growth of the chives. He squatted down from one end of the greenhouse to the other, grabbed a handful of soil and kneaded it, then called out to the greenhouse door, "Zhiqiang, connect the water pipe."

Zhiqiang went to the east wing, brought the water pipe over, connected it section by section, and inserted it into the water pipe that led into the shed from the wall.

I went back to the outer room to sew paper quilts, and for more than ten days in a row, I sewed and mended the damaged ones. I also sewed a few new quilts and replaced some that were too worn out.

Every day, I would clean up after breakfast and roll up the straw mats, then put the mats down and clean up after dinner in the evening. Occasionally, I would help the old lady with her needlework. In the rest of the time, Zhiqiang taught me to knit a "hanging band," and he gave me a "1.5-inch" pattern. He was also knitting a "1.6-inch" pattern himself.

During the winter off-season, my great-aunt brought her grandson, Xiaoxing, to stay with us. Xiaoxing was about 1.7 meters tall, smart and sensible, and good-looking, but he had some mental issues, which were sometimes good and sometimes bad. He loved to visit his "uncle's" house, where there were two uncles of similar age, Zhiqiang and Xiaokai. Whenever his grandmother went back to her "maternal home," he would always come, and his grandmother would bring him along.

Today was a cloudy day. We stood under the shed, hesitating whether to roll up the tarpaulin. I said, "What's the point of rolling it up on a cloudy day?"

Zhiqiang: "It's better to have light inside than darkness inside. It's not good to keep it all covered up when it's pitch black inside."

"Then roll it up."

As he spoke, he started rolling up the mat. After finishing, he went back into the house. Zhiqiang climbed onto the kang (a heated brick bed) and took down the netting that was nailed to the window: "Let's go to that room and weave, and talk to Auntie and Xiaoxing."

In the west room, the eldest aunt was sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed), holding a tobacco pouch and pressing the bowl with her thumb. The old woman sat on her quilt, holding her tobacco pouch in her left hand and using her long-stemmed tobacco pouch to take out tobacco from it with her right. The father-in-law sat in a chair, and Xiaoxing sat on the edge of the kang, the two chatting about the household responsibility system.

My great-aunt was of medium height, with a large frame and a robust physique. A black net over her head made her hair appear even blacker and neater. She sat cross-legged on the kang (heated brick bed), her back ramrod straight, her bound feet resting on her knees. Seeing us come in carrying the net, she shifted her body, saying, "Come on in, come sit here. It's really cold outside. With this, you can throw down the rake and sweep the broom. How can life not be good?" My great-aunt was praising my diligence.

At this moment, the old woman finished packing her cigarettes, lit them, took a puff, and coughed. Suffering from pulmonary and bone tuberculosis, her frail body trembled, her haggard face contorted, and her thin lips turned purple.

"Old toad, stop smoking tomorrow! It'll add two more years to your life!" the father-in-law scolded.

The mother-in-law weakly raised her large eyelids and turned her head away.

We went up to the kang (heated brick bed). I sat down next to my great-aunt, and Zhiqiang sat next to me. We hung the net on the glass nails and started weaving it.

At this moment, Xiao Xing also took off his shoes and climbed onto the kang (a heated brick bed), sitting down next to his fourth uncle. He stared intently at his fourth uncle's hands as he wove the net, making a knot and pulling hard, the movements dynamic and rhythmic. Xiao Xing became interested: "It's quite interesting watching you weave the net. Fourth Uncle, why don't you start me? I'll weave one too. Our 'Hu family' has a lot of fish, so I'll weave a couple of nets to catch them."

Zhiqiang: "Then ask your grandma if she'll let you do it. This thing needs to be glued to the boat, do you know how to handle water?"

Xiao Xing: "Yes! There are plenty of people like us who grew up by the water who can't swim!"

The eldest aunt said, "Let him do whatever he wants. Nobody cares about his business anyway, since he doesn't do much farm work."

Zhiqiang inserted the shuttle into the aiming tool: "Then I'll start setting it for you, how big of an eye do you want?"

Xiao Xing: "Six inches."

Zhiqiang got up and went to the ground, found a 1.6-inch caliper, cut out more than a meter of wire, and returned to the kang (a heated brick bed).

"Don't talk to me!" One, two, three... until two thousand four hundred.

"Finally finished getting up—" Zhiqiang breathed a sigh of relief.

"Fourth Uncle, this net cable is so thin, how can it withstand a fishball? The fish's tail flick is quite powerful!" Xiao Xing asked curiously.

"It's not a single piece, there's also a large cover, right? Even if you bend a few lines, the fish won't escape; it'll be wrapped up," Zhiqiang replied. Zhiqiang continued, "This is the best quality, imported Japanese 'Red Fish' line. You can't even buy it now; this little bit was shared from the first three suppliers!"

Xiao Xing: "Why don't you go to his house again and borrow some more?"

Zhiqiang: "Do you still need to tell me? I already said it. The third brother's dad said that it's impossible to find it now. This was something that someone from his work unit brought back from Guangzhou when they went on a business trip. Now it's nowhere to be found, and they don't import it anymore."

Xiao Xing: "That's expensive, right? I'll just give you the money."

Zhiqiang: "Give me a break. A single net costs only two or three ounces of thread, and a pound of thread only costs a little over twenty yuan. Where are you going to spend your few dollars?"

As they talked, it got dark, and Zhiqiang said, "The weather is bad; it's going to snow."

I replied, "What's wrong with snow? It's clean, the air is fresh, and you can sweep up the snow and build a big snowman."

Zhiqiang: "You'll find out later."

Sure enough, the next day, the sky cleared, the snow fell to a depth of half a foot, and the wind did not stop.

I was wearing a cotton-padded jacket and trousers that I made for my wedding, an off-white coat with red flowers over it, a slightly flared coat, beige serge trousers, a light beige beige hat with a high ponytail, and white plastic-soled "BJ cotton" shoes.

Thick, medium-length braids draped over her shoulders.

Zhiqiang wore the leather hat and boots he wore on his wedding day, along with army green trousers and a blue casual shirt. The loose-fitting clothes made his slender figure appear even more frail, and his strength was no more than that of a strong female laborer.

We climbed onto the greenhouse, which was completely covered by a thick layer of snow. Zhiqiang, holding a long-handled wooden rake, shoveled and pushed, trying to scrape the snow off the mats. I followed suit, sweeping with a broom and scooping with a shovel. We even picked up and shook off the snow from the areas that weren't swept clean. We worked hard to make sure the snow didn't melt on the mats and blankets.

The north wind howled, making the overhead power lines whistle. As the saying goes, snow is cold on the first snow and cold on the second. My hands were so cold they hurt like they were being bitten by a cat, and my feet, which were wearing cotton shoes, went numb and lost all feeling.

I was completely exhausted. Looking at this bright white expanse, I was filled with worry. When would I ever finish this?

Thinking back to when I was at home, my older brothers would take care of the heavy work outside, and if all else failed, my father and younger brother would be there. I was never asked to do it. Sometimes when I went over to help, my older brother would say, "Go ahead! You're not as strong as a toad."

Grandma's words, "A daughter-in-law from heaven is not as good as a daughter from hell," came back to mind.

"When will you two ever finish? Let me help you fix it," Xiaoxing said, grabbing a shovel.

Zhiqiang: "I don't need you. You're not well. Go stay in this cold rooftop!"

"Come on!" Xiaoxing said as she came up and used a shovel to scoop up snow and throw it behind her.

He straightened up after a while, leaning on his shovel to rest: "Fourth Uncle, why isn't my uncle up shoveling snow?"

Zhiqiang: "Who can order him around?"

Xiaoxing: "So what? He's not from this family, is he?"

Zhiqiang: "Even your great-uncle can't get him to do anything. He acts like a stubborn mule whenever you ask him to do something. I can't keep quiet unless I ask him to."

I didn't say it, but I couldn't understand it. Seventeen or eighteen-year-old boys, not going to school, not working, just lounging around at home, eating when the food is ready, not lifting a finger to do any work, just being pampered like this without any illness or disaster, I've never seen anything like it.

"Xing, Zhiqiang! Come down and eat, you guys. Your dad has cooked the meal. Eat first, then you can continue working," Auntie called from the front door.

We came down, stomped the snow off our feet at the front door, and went inside. The house was pitch black, except for the television on the lid.

The TV they bought for us when we got married was only placed in our room that day, and then moved to the west room and put on the shelf the next day.

Zhiqiang said, "They all love watching 'The Legend of the Condor Heroes,' so let them watch it. We'd rather weave a couple of webs than waste that time." I didn't say anything.

To date, Zhiqiang's "job," which hardly qualifies as a profession, involves fishing in the summer and tending to greenhouses and weaving nets in the winter. His father retired six months ago and asked him to take over the job, but he looks down on it.

After adjusting to the light in the room, Xiao Kai came to the table and saw that people were eating and drinking. Xiao Kai, who doesn't drink, ate a bite of food and took a sip of water from the jar while his father took the wine pot out to pour wine.

There were no bowls on the table, so I went to the cookware cabinet to get them, then went to the stove outside to bring back the rice bowls and placed them on the kang (heated brick bed). Xiao Kai quickly took the bowls, filled them himself, and started eating. I returned to the table and handed the bowls to the elderly, then served rice to Xiao Xing and Zhi Qiang, and finally served myself before sitting down.

After several cups, my father-in-law put down his cup, leaned back in his chair, one elbow on the armrest, and reached for the wine jug in the jar with the other, calmly scraping the water from the bottom of the jug off along the rim of the jar. As he poured more wine, he turned to me and said, "How about I let you take over my shift? You'll start work after the Lunar New Year?"

I happily replied, "Yes!" I'm willing to do anything except work in the paddy fields. Besides, "prefabricated parts factory" is still a factory, which sounds better than being a farmer. If anyone asks when I go back to Da Liujia Village, I'll say I'm working in a factory, which is something to be proud of.

Father-in-law: "Work will start on the sixteenth of the first lunar month. I'll have your second sister take you there. Your second sister-in-law works at that factory too."

Mother-in-law: "What is Guozhi doing? What are you tying up?"

Father-in-law: "Tie the steel bars."